Agent Zo: The woman who defied the Nazis and Communists

SpyCast

News, Education, History

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Agent Zo was the only female Polish resistance agent to reach London as a courier during WWII and the only female member of Poland's fabled 'Silent Unseen' paratroopers. Yet despite having researched Poland's wartime resistance movement, many of us have never heard of her. Why? If you liked this episode, check out these links: Agent Zo: The Extraordinary Woman Who Parachuted Into Nazi-Occupied Poland Women Spies of WWII with Ellen McCarthy, Judith L. Pearson, and Erika Robuck The Danger of the Femme Fatale Narrative Code Name Madeleine with author Arthur J. Magida Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at [email protected], This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.3	Welcome to Spycast, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum. I'm your host, Sasha Inber,
0:40.8	and each week I take you into the shadows of espionage, intelligence, and covert operations across the glue.
0:50.4	The best spies are often the ones that are overlooked and underestimated.
0:56.0	In World War II, this was especially true for women, like El-Sbietta-Zawatska, a resistance
1:02.1	fighter who worked for Polish intelligence.
1:05.3	Known as Agent Zo, she had her own female spying.
1:09.1	She traveled thousands of miles through enemy territory,
1:11.7	and she carried critical microfilm detailing German military movements and weapons,
1:17.6	intelligence that would later help allied troops defeat the Nazis. And on top of all of that,
1:23.4	she secured legal rights for women's soldiers. But her story is not well known.
1:29.4	And Claire Mully knows why.
1:31.4	She's the author of Agent Zoe,
1:33.6	the untold story of a fearless World War II resistance fighter.
1:38.0	It's the latest of several books she's written on women in espionage.
1:43.0	Thanks for joining us, Claire.
1:45.1	You've written about so many courageous women in history.
1:48.3	What draws you to this?
	...

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